Tina Charles hits winning shot as Dream beat Storm 83-81

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — Rhyne Howard scored a season-high 30 points, Allisha Gray added 19 and Tina Charles scored in the post with 1.1 seconds left to help the Atlanta Dream beat the Seattle Storm 83-81 on Friday night to snap an eight-game losing streak.

Charles finished with 16 points and Jordin Canada scored 10 points — all in the fourth quarter — to go with eight assists and three steals for Atlanta (8-17) in the first game back for both teams following a monthlong break due to the Paris Olympics.

Seattle entered the fourth quarter with a 60-55 lead, but Atlanta went on a 12-5 run to go ahead 67-65 with 5:37 to play. The Dream maintained a lead until Jewell Loyd hit a contested fall-away 3-pointer in front of the Seattle bench to make it 81-all with 4.6 seconds left. Loyd’s tying shot came after she chased down a miss from Skylar Diggins-Smith.

The Dream called timeout to move the ball into the frontcourt and Charles caught the inbounds pass on the left block, faced the basket and pulled up for a short jumper to give Atlanta the win.

Diggins-Smith led the Storm (17-9) with a season-high 29 points and Loyd scored 21. Nneka Ogwumike added 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting.

Seattle led 41-29 at halftime and by as many as 14 points in the second half before Atlanta mounted its comeback.

Howard made three 3-pointers in a 63-second span to trim the Dream’s deficit to 49-44 with 5:20 left in the third quarter. Howard made 5 of 6 from the field and scored 14 points in the third quarter as the Dream cut the Storm’s advantage to 60-55 entering the fourth.

Atlanta took a 64-63 lead, its first since the first quarter, with 6:24 to play.

Seattle has committed 15 or fewer turnovers in 19 consecutive games, the fourth-longest streak of its kind in WNBA history.

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DREAM 83, STORM 81

SEATTLE (81) — Horston 1-4 0-0 2, Ogwumike 7-10 0-0 16, Magbegor 3-5 0-0 6, Diggins-Smith 11-21 6-7 29, Loyd 7-19 5-5 21, Holmes 1-3 0-0 2, Vivians 0-4 0-0 0, Russell 0-0 0-0 0, Whitcomb 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 32-70 11-12 81.

ATLANTA (83) — Hillmon 3-6 0-0 6, Howard 10-16 5-6 30, Charles 7-13 2-4 16, Canada 2-10 6-7 10, Gray 7-15 4-6 19, Coffey 0-1 0-0 0, Parker-Tyus 1-2 0-0 2, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Caldwell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-63 17-23 83.

Seattle                22           19           19           21—81

Atlanta                18           11           26           28—83

3-Point Goals—Seattle 6-22 (Ogwumike 2-2, Loyd 2-8, Whitcomb 1-1, Diggins-Smith 1-4, Horston 0-1, Magbegor 0-1, Holmes 0-2, Vivians 0-3), Atlanta 6-17 (Howard 5-9, Gray 1-6, Canada 0-2). Rebounds—Seattle 27 (Magbegor 7), Atlanta 37 (Hillmon 13). Assists—Seattle 14 (Diggins-Smith 5), Atlanta 14 (Canada 8). Total Fouls—Seattle 18, Atlanta 15.